Brainy Marketing Update – Forbes

It’s been a few weeks, so here are the latest articles from my Brainy Marketing blog at Forbes.com. Please drop by there and make a comment – Forbes has a cool comment exposure system that lets authors of posts (e.g., me) “call out” quality comments, and the site admins often expose these comments on other pages, like the front pages of sections like CMO Network, Leadership, etc. I enjoy the smart dialog you create here, and at Forbes you’ll be able to interact with a whole new group of thinkers and thought leaders!

Is flirting in a business environment ever a good thing for women? The answer is a qualified “yes.” New data shows that women using what the researchers call “feminine charm” achieved better results in business negotiations. Flirtatious (vs. merely friendly) behavior also had a positive effect. Researchers from UC Berkeley and the London School of Economics looked at both social charm and flirtatious behavior by conducting negotiations using male and female subjects, reporting the results in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. The result of multiple experiments enabled the researchers, led by Berkeley’s Laura Kray, to conclude that using feminine charm produced better outcomes. Read more…17 Total Comments.

A quick challenge: name a company with a more loyal, energized customer base than Apple. I bet you had to work to come up with one. And, the loyalty of Apple customers isn’t a new thing – it dates to their earliest years. Indeed, Apple’s survival through challenging times of low market share and management mistakes is due in large part to the fact that it was never abandoned by its devoted user base. Multiple factors created this amazing loyalty… This post updates an older post from here, Revealed: How Steve Jobs Turns Customers into Fanatics, focusing on how a common enemy can unify users behind your brand. Read article…8 Total Comments.

If you sell products or services, you probably have a product that you’d like to sell more of. Maybe it’s the one the produces the highest level of customer satisfaction or the fewest returns. Maybe it’s more profitable than other items in the line. Maybe it represents a great value for your customers but they overlook it. Here’s one key to selling more of that item: be sure your customer sees it FIRST! Read more…Be the first to comment »

Last month, I spoke at a conference attended by affiliates of National Public Radio… As most NPR listeners know, their periodic fundraisers tend to employ modest rewards for their donors – contribute $50 and get a Car Talk mug, $100 for an All Things Considered tote bag, etc. I always thought these benefits were a nice touch – certainly not a reason to make a contribution in and of themselves, but perhaps enough to get a contributor to bump up to the next donation level. Surprisingly, new research shows that this type of thank-you gift can actually reduce contributions! Read more…Be the first to comment »

Penn State’s football program has been handed a set of penalties that make a business bankruptcy seem almost benign. A firm going through Chapter 11 can often continue to serve customers in a “business as usual” manner, and can emerge stronger than before. Penn State’s football program is now entering a business nightmare – they can expect massive loss of key personnel, a rapid decline in the quality of their product, and an enormous drop in revenue. Read more…Be the first to comment »

Hope you find a few of these useful! Don’t forget to say “hi” over there with a comment!